


Frail Like Trust

by frozenCinders



Category: Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: Gen, Referenced Alcoholism, referenced surgery and hospitals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29953467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: Uva hadn't bothered trying to dig through his unfortunate host's memories aside from finding out where he was meant to live. He didn't have much of a choice once a human spotted him by his house and grabbed him by the shirt, demanding to know where he's been.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Frail Like Trust

**Author's Note:**

> uva showed up onscreen after being irrelevant for a million years just suddenly loaded with cash and my brain instantly gave me this. if this funny little theory is disproven by canon anywhere then i guess i'll go fuck myself

Sifting through his host's memories suddenly gave Uva so much context. Why he'd looked so irate and unstable the night Uva found him, why his body craves liquor almost nonstop, why his house was in disrepair when he'd first come home, as if someone had ransacked it.

Hoshiyama, his host, was a skilled and respected surgeon. After a single, dire failure, he'd broken down and hidden away from the world, trying to drown himself in alcohol until he could no longer see the blood on his hands.

The human accosting Uva is named Torimoto, and was a close coworker of his host's. Uva remembers him attempting to console Hoshiyama before he'd run away.

It would appear that the best option here... would be to bring Hoshiyama back. So, Uva removes Torimoto's hands from him, takes a wide step back, and bows deeply.

"From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry," he says, voice so much lighter than what comes naturally to him. "I needed some time to cope with what I'd done."

Torimoto takes a moment, then sighs.

"Don't bow. Just... come back to work. We need you."

Forgiven, Uva spends the rest of the afternoon digging through Hoshiyama's memories, amassing medical knowledge he'd never been interested in learning. The easiest way to rectify this situation would've been to simply kill that human, but Uva had caught a glimpse of something in his first pass that gave him an idea.

Humans are motivated by greed, which most often takes the form of money. Hoshiyama, as a surgeon with no loved ones to speak of, seemed to have plenty. If Uva were to get his hands on funds like that, he could get dozens of humans to do some legwork for him, no questions asked.

Rather than brute force his way through things like Kazari has been, Uva decides to employ strategy. By the morning, he's fine-tuned his appearance to more or less match Hoshiyama's old style, and he's familiarized himself with the scalpels he'd kept for practice.

If he were actually Hoshiyama, he'd be nervous about going back to the hospital, especially after so long. His coworkers understand that, and they try to ease him back into the workflow.

"No, my patients shouldn't have to wait a moment longer," he reasons in his most polite voice. "I'll do whatever is required of me."

They're reluctant to give him the work so soon, but an emergency heart surgery is required a mere two days later, and Uva is the one they call to the OR, courtesy of Torimoto's insistence. It's a good thing he's wearing a mask, because it's difficult not to crack up at the thought that he's technically (and technically _not_ ) doing this for the very first time, and not a single one of them even so much as suspects that.

Regardless of that fact, he does have Hoshiyama's knowledge and muscle memory, with none of the emotional baggage. The surgery is a success, and Uva quickly finds himself feeling stifled by the many congratulatory pats to his shoulders by random humans.

The moment he's home, he puts his preferred clothes back on and wrestles with his hair to get it back the way he wants it, heaving a sigh at himself in the mirror afterwards.

Even if this will be a pain to keep up, it'll be worth it for his plan.

The next time he goes to work, his resolve falters. A woman named Satoko catches him-- someone Hoshiyama was close enough to be on given name basis with. Uva continues his host's trend of being friendly with her, much to his chagrin.

"It makes me so happy to see you again, Kagerou. Do you have any idea how worried we all were?"

Uva half-nods, falsely shy.

"My deepest apologies. It was never my intention to make anyone worry about me. Haha... I really went and made the situation even worse, didn't I?" he adds with some humor, absolutely meaning that last part. Uva had mistakenly thought this would be easy, but every single word is sour in his mouth.

"Don't say that," she says with a light pat to his arm. "You can't save everyone every time. We all take the oath knowing that. Though... I understand how difficult it can get. More than you know."

Huh? Uva has no recollection of any incidents involving Satoko. If she made any sort of tragic mistake, Hoshiyama must have been unaware.

"Human lives are fragile things, aren't they?" Uva muses, voice unintentionally dropping to a more natural level for him.

Beside him, Satoko nods, agreeing without question.

"Yours too," she adds, looking at him with eyes full of purpose. "Don't forget."

It does make Uva realize something. Not his own mortality-- no, as a Greeed, he's really not so frail. It's just that all these friendly humans must be rubbing off on him, because Uva is starting to think he knows what it's like to be someone who would be _missed_.

It's foreign, it's bittersweet, and it makes his nerves tingle strangely. It's a good thing Hoshiyama has a believable reputation of isolating himself now, because Uva needs plenty of time alone between shifts, giving his best attempt at distancing himself from strange new _human_ feelings.

Maybe if Torimoto and Satoko were Greeeds instead of humans, they could share a genuine bond with Uva. In another world, they could be his Kazari, his Mezool. Only without the constant distrust and at best vague hostility.

Humans are softer things, for certain. It starts to be all Uva can do to maintain his exoskeleton, lest he end up getting soft as well.


End file.
